Tales from the Deep: The Largest Sharks Ever Caught

Monday, 19 March 2007

In 1945, a large White Shark, the famous “Cojimar Specimen,” was caught from the shores of Cuba. It was said to measure 21 feet and weigh approximately 7,100 pounds. Conflicting reports showed that the shark weight 7,302 pounds. In truth, though, the shark was never really weighed and the length of the shark has been questioned as well.

Really Big Fish Stories abound, but most of them are very hard to verify. Many people dream of catching enormous sea creatures, but only few actually manage to go beyond mere wishful thinking, estimates and plain exaggerations. The world’s largest living fish is the whale shark, or the rhincodon typus. It reportedly reaches to lengths of at least 16 to 18 meters or between 50 to 60 feet. Some reports say that a Whale Shark, measuring 59 feet was captured on the Gulf of Thailand in 1919. Still, other accounts say that the largest whale shark ever captured was harpooned in Pakistan in November 1949. It measured 12.6 meters, with the girth or the distance around the thickest part of its body measuring an astounding 23 feet. The whole shark itself was estimated to weight about 15.5 tons.

Predatory sharks such as the Great White, while not as huge as the whale shark, reportedly reach 30 feet in length. One of the largest Great White sharks that were ever caught was a 23-ft long creature caught on the coast of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, in April 1987. However, an investigation done after showed that the length was exaggerated. Another shark whose measurements cannot be verified was the one caught from Kangaroo Island, in South Australia, also in April 1987. The second-largest Great White recorded is 6.4-meter creature captured in May 1945, off the shores of Cuba. Still, the story remains dubious and therefore cannot completely be stored in the record books. According to the International Game Fish Association, the largest Great White was found on the coast of Australia in April 1959 and was caught by Alfred Dean. It weighed an astonishing 2,664 pounds. Some have tried to outdo such reports, telling accounts of a 6,600-pound whale shark being caught from the Sea of Zhuhai in China. The Great White Shark that holds the distinction of being the largest Great White recorded scientifically measures a whopping 6.1 meters, harpooned off Prince Edward Island in 1983.

Whether these stories resemble fact or fiction, Hollywood or the real deep blue sea, few stories are as fascinating and can capture the imagination of those who have held an affinity for the earth’s mighty seas.

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